Welcome

The Council to Improve Foodborne Outbreak Response (CIFOR) is a multidisciplinary working group convened to increase collaboration across the country and across relevant areas of expertise in order to reduce the burden of foodborne illness in the United States. The Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) and the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) co-chair CIFOR with support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), foodborne illness affects one in six Americans annually. Of the estimated 48 million who become sick from a foodborne illness each year, 128,000 thousand people are hospitalized and 3,000 individuals die. Many organizations are involved in efforts to mitigate the effects of these illnesses on public health. Outbreak identification and investigation is one of the key areas where multidisciplinary public health professionals must collaborate. CIFOR was created to develop and share guidelines, processes, and products that will facilitate good foodborne outbreak response.

In the Spotlight:

New! Second Edition of the CIFOR Toolkit for the Guidelines for Foodborne Disease Outbreak Response

The Second Edition of the CIFOR Toolkit for the Guidelines for Foodborne Disease Outbreak Response is now available. The Second Edition of the Toolkit has been developed to aid in the implementation of the second edition of the Guidelines for Foodborne Disease Outbreak Response, which was released in 2014. The Toolkit is intended to further the ability of state and local health departments to understand the contents of the Guidelines, to conduct a self-assessment of their outbreak detection and investigation procedures, and to implement appropriate recommendations from the nine chapters in the Guidelines.

The Toolkit walks public health practitioners through a series of worksheets divided into eleven "Focus Areas". The Focus Areas are designed to help jurisdictions identify recommendations from the Guidelines that would be most useful for their jurisdiction. The Toolkit covers the most critical elements of outbreak response, guiding users through a range of activities, including: describing current activities and procedures, prioritizing CIFOR Guidelines recommendations to address needed improvements, and finally, making plans to implement the selected recommendations. Learn more.

New! Second Edition of the CIFOR Guidelines for Foodborne Disease Outbreak Response
The Second Edition of the CIFOR Guidelines for Foodborne Disease Outbreak Response (CIFOR Guidelines) is now available. These guidelines incorporate many significant changes that have occurred in the foodborne disease surveillance and outbreak investigation framework since the first edition of the Guidelines was published in 2009. Examples of additions and changes include information about the Food Safety Modernization Act; new information about model practices in outbreak investigation and response; updated statistics, references and examples; and enhanced alignment between the Guidelines and the Toolkit. The Guidelines were developed by a broad range of foodborne disease experts from local, state and federal agencies to aid government agencies responsible for investigating, managing and preventing foodborne disease. Learn more.

New! Development of Target Ranges for Selected Performance Measures in the CIFOR Guidelines

Chapter 8 of the CIFOR Guidelines was developed for use by state and local public health agencies to evaluate the performance of their foodborne disease surveillance, outbreak investigation, and control programs. Standardized performance criteria and metrics promote a common understanding of the key elements of surveillance, outbreak investigation, and control activities, facilitate training of staff, and allow for the aggregation of data to evaluate program effectiveness and identify specific needs for improvement.

The aim of the metrics project was to develop specific metrics and target ranges for 16 selected performance indicators in Chapter 8 of the Guidelines to help agencies demonstrate their public health performance and effectiveness for foodborne disease surveillance and outbreak control activities. The project outputs include an abridged version of the 16 metrics and target ranges and the full project report which describes the methodologies used to develop the 16 metrics and target ranges. Learn more.

Featured Clearinghouse Tools:

COE Web Course-Foodborne Outbreak Investigation and Response Team Roles and Responsibilities: Part A

This online course, which is the first part of a two part course, trains public health professionals and other involved personnel to rapidly identify, investigate and implement control measures for a foodborne disease outbreak to reduce the incidence of foodborne illness.

This project was supported under Cooperative Agreement# U60HM000803 between the Association of Public Health Laboratories and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the developers and do not necessarily represent the official views of APHL or CDC.